About one-tenth of the world's output of wool is produced in the United States. World production for 1917 is placed at 2,790,000 pounds. (Bulletin, National Association of Wool Manufacturers. 1918, p. 162.) Australia heads the list with a production of 741.8 million pounds. Russia, including Siberia, comes second with 380.0 million pounds. The United States is third with 285.6 million pounds and Argentina fourth with 258.3 million pounds.
The United States leads the world in timber production. "Last winter we estimated that the United States has been cutting about 50 per cent of the total world's supply of lumber." (Letter from Chief of Forest Investigation. U. S. Forest Service. Oct. 11, 1919.) The same letter gives the present annual timber cut. The United States 12.5 billion cubic feet; Russia 7.1 billion cubic feet; Canada 3.0 billion cubic feet; Austria-Hungary 2.7 billion cubic feet.
A third of the iron ore produced in the world in 1912 came from the United States. The world's production in that year was 154.0 million tons (British Statistical Abstract, No. 39, p. 492). The United States produced 56.1 million tons or 36 per cent of the whole; Germany produced 32.7 million tons; France 19.2 million tons; the United Kingdom 14.0 million tons. No other country is reported as producing as much as ten million tons.
The position of the United States as a producer of iron and steel was greatly enhanced by the war. The Daily Consular and Trade Reports (July 9, 1919, p. 155) give a comparison between the world's steel and iron output in 1914 and 1918. In 1914 the United States produced 23.3 million tons of pig iron; Germany produced 14.4 million tons; the United Kingdom 8.9 million tons, and France 5.2 million tons. The United States was thus producing 45 per cent of the pig iron turned out in these four countries. For 1918 the pig iron production of the United States was 39.1 million tons. That of the other three countries was 22.0 million tons. In that year the United States produced 64 per cent of the pig iron product of these four countries. An equally great lead is shown in the case of steel production. In 1914 the United States produced 23.5 million tons of steel. Germany, the United Kingdom and France produced 27.6 million tons. By 1918 the production of the United States had nearly doubled (45.1 million tons).
The total pig iron output of the world for 1917 was placed at 66.9 millions of tons. The world's production of steel in 1916 was placed at 83 million tons. The United States produced considerably more than half of both commodities. ("The Mineral Industry During 1918." New York, McGraw Hill Book Co., 1919, pp. 379-80).
The two chief forms of power upon which modern industry depends are petroleum and coal. The United States is the largest producer of both of these commodities. The world's production of petroleum in 1917 was 506.7 million barrels (Mineral Resources, 1917, Part II, p. 867). Of this amount the United States produced 335.3 million barrels or 66 per cent of the total. The second largest producer, Russia, and the third, Mexico, are credited with 69 million barrels and 55.3 million barrels respectively.
As a coal producer the United States stands far ahead of all other nations. The United States Geological Survey (Special Report, No. 118) placed the total coal production of the world in 1913 at 1,478 million tons. Of this amount 569.9 million tons (38.5 per cent) were produced in the United States. The production for Great Britain was 321.7 million tons; for Germany 305.7 million tons; for Austria-Hungary 60.6 million tons. No other country reported a production of as much as fifty million tons. In 1915 the United States produced 40.5 per cent of the world's coal; in 1917 44.2 per cent; in 1918 46.2 per cent.
Copper has become one of the world's chief metals. Two-thirds of all the copper is produced in the United States. Copper production in 1916 totaled 3,107 million pounds (Mineral Resources in the United States, 1916, part I, p. 625). The production for the United States was 1,927.9 million pounds (62 per cent of the whole). The second largest producer, Japan, turned out 179.2 million pounds.
The precious metals, gold and silver, are largely produced in the United States. The world's gold production for 1917 was 423.6 million dollars (Mineral Resources, 1917, p. 613). Africa produced half of this amount (214.6 million dollars). The United States was second with a production of 83.8 million dollars (20 per cent of the whole). The same publication (p. 615) gives the world's silver production in 1917 as 164 million ounces. 77.1 million ounces (43 per cent) were produced in the United States. The second largest producer was Mexico, 31.2 million ounces; and the third Canada, with 22.3 million ounces. These three North American countries produced 76 per cent of the world's output of silver.
Judge Gary, speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute (1920) put the situation in this summary form:—